Finance committee  Actually, I cannot tell. Maybe Vincent heard about something. About the specific impact, we just know the money they want to put in the compensation program. Actually, Vignerons Canada is doing some research about it to evaluate the impact that it can have. Other than that I don't know.

Finance committee  Yes. In answer to your question, actually, under federal law when we're talking about wine, we're talking about all fermented products that are produced by Canadian producers. There's no difference between grape, honey and other things like that. Actually, with the end of the exemption, we will all have to pay this tax.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  We are all in the same situation. Actually, it's going to be a big issue. It will arrive very fast.

Finance committee  For sure it's going to be a shock. We're an association, and we were looking for this information many months ago. We received this information and we began to do our representations. We found it problematic. We cannot have this.

Finance committee  Yes. It's correct. It's more expensive to produce mead because honey costs more to produce than apples or grain or other agricultural matter.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. Within our association, we had the opportunity to speak to some negotiators from the Quebec ministère de l'Économie et de l'Innovation. They told us that, in their negotiations, they were able to make the distinction between the various types of alcohol.

Finance committee  Thank you very much.

Finance committee  Let's take the example of a light mead with 4.5% alcohol. The retail price of a 473-millilitre bottle that we sell at a grocery shop will be about $2.90. In the end, the increase will be about 16¢ on that amount. That may not sound like much, but proportionally, it represents a 5% increase in the price of a can.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. Indeed, the big problem for us is that, at the federal level, wines are considered to include any fermented agricultural material that is 100% produced in Canada. Since 2006, we have benefited from an exemption that applied to wines made from the fermentation of 100% Canadian products.

Finance committee  Good morning, everyone. Thank you for inviting me to appear before the committee. My name is René Bougie, and I am the co-owner of Miellerie King—distillery and meadery, located in Kingsey Falls, in the Centre-du-Québec region. I am also the president of the Association des producteurs d'hydromels et d'alcools de miel du Québec, or APHAMQ.